Sierra Pacific truck loses log load

Driver John Peay has a lot to talk about after his log truck lost its load practically on the sidewalk adjacent to Quincy High School. Peay was on his way to the Sierra Pacific Industries mill at about 9:30 Monday morning, Jan. 21, when the logs slid off the truck bed after he turned onto Quincy Junction Road from Highway 70. Photos by Laura Beaton

Laura Beaton

Staff Writer

1/21/2013

As driver John Peay turned the corner, his load of logs slid out of the front stand and onto the Quincy High School parking spaces near the loading area on Quincy Junction Road.

Peay was delivering a load of logs to the Sierra Pacific Industries mill when the mishap occurred around 9:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 21.

Luckily, the school holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day meant that no cars were parked where the load of logs landed, averting serious potential damage to cars and passersby.

A log truck driver since 1995, Peay, a Cromberg resident, was delivering his load of logs from the Chips Fire area near Lake Almanor. He had nearly reached his destination — the Sierra Pacific Industries mill on Lee Road — when the incident occurred.

Peay said he had stopped his truck at the traffic light on Highway 70 at Quincy Junction Road. When the light turned green, Peay said he drove forward at a speed of five miles an hour.

As he made the turn, the logs slid out of the right side of the front stand. Peay said it looked like the teeth in the bottom of the stand that normally bite into the logs and keep them on the bed were frozen over with snow and ice.

He said he was planning to dig them out later in the day that Monday.

The log spill did not hinder traffic and a couple hours later the logs were removed and taken to the mill.

There were no injuries involved in the unusual incident, which Peay said he had never seen before.